Waitr Moves Into New Home In Lafayette

Waitr is growing its presence in Lafayette, as the fast growing food delivery app is opening its own permanent facility.

Waitr CEO Chris Meaux says moving into their own facility will create new jobs in the Lafayette area.

“Within the next 12 months, we’ll probably hire another 50 to 100 people here, in addition to all of our Waitrs out in the field that actually do the delivery. So all together in the Lafayette area we have over 400 employees,” Meaux said.

The app launched in 2015 in Lake Charles and now the company operates over 20 cities in five states and employing more than 1,200 people nationwide. Meaux says when they opened its initial Lafayette site at the Opportunity Machine, supported by the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, it allowed them to focus on their growth without worrying about the details.

“We didn’t have to go out and buy furniture. We had access to the technology that we needed to build our company, as opposed to having to go deal with all of those things, and those can be a distraction to a startup,” Meaux said.

The app also provides food delivery service in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and New Orleans. Meaux says he never thought he could start and build a technology company in Louisiana. He says Opportunity Machine enabled him to pursue his dream of starting this company in his home state without having to relocate to Silicon Valley.

“Being a Louisiana native that means more to me than anything else that we’ve done. We’ve been able to do this in Louisiana, create new jobs here in Louisiana in technology,” Meaux said.